Belkan Federation
Overview The Belkan Federation (Verband Belken) is a Federal Presidential Unitary Republic in Aredia and Dorjania, bordering the Saryad Socialist States, the Turkau Khaganate, Aevizemes, and Yazidavan. It forms as the land bridge between the two continents it consists in, getting valuable land trade routes in the process. Being one of the foremost Arcasic nations in both continents and most certainly one of the most powerful, influential, and wealthiest nations second only to Amcar and the Saryad Union. A nation mainly focusing on industrial and military strength since the Iron Age, this has paid off in the form of outclassing several other nations in sheer military technology. Most of Belka is made up of wide, grassy plains and expansive forests, though the region near the border of Yazidavan consists of deserts and mesas. An interesting thing to note about Belka is its constant cold war with several arms and technological races against the Saryad Union, which it believes to be the worst enemy ever encountered to the Federation. The Belkan military was an infamous pioneer into the use of biological and chemical weapons, as well as paving the way for the adoption of assault rifles to the rest of the world with its adoption of the Mk.1 AR some decades earlier. Belkan Tribes The Toroshimans were a very small, almost unknown group in Belka until the leadership of King Hideki came later in the tribes' history. Quickly making the Toroshimans into a sizable regional power, Hideki effortlessly conquered the surrounding tribes without much of a fight, incorporating them into the Toroshiman Kingdom. The other power who could challenge the fierce Toroshiman warriors in battle were the Sventars. They had been weakened by internal revolts and a power struggle following the death of their past king, however, and were in a bad position. The Sventar War lasted for months going back-and-forth, nobody knowing who would win until the Toroshimans finally conquered the Sventars. But the Arcasans arrived soon after the War, putting most resistance down and subjugating them, the Toroshimans themselves weakened by the Sventar War. Daily life between the two groups was actually very cordial and the Kingdom got sizable influence under the Arcasans. The Taichan invaded after this period. It was not a good experience and the natives and settlers frequently rebelled against their rule, loathing it. Great Belkan Rebellion The - Tribe - was the main political entity who owned Belka. Nobody liked them and the Toroshimans and Belkans actually cooperated temporarily in a tacit alliance against their overlords. Eastern Belka was mainly Arcasan but this changed after the Belkan Rebellion, the leader of this rebellion being Ludwig Belkins, the future namesake of the nation he helped create. Following the revolution came centuries of borderline genocide and widespread discrimination against Arcasans who are still considered to be the Belkan nation's greatest enemy ever encountered in world history, mainly put as propaganda and thoroughly made to indoctrinate the Belkan people as thinking they are the superior race. Post-Independence History Ludwig Belkins, the hero of the Great Belkan Rebellion, became the first Emperor of the Belkan Empire. The military was strong and the people were filled with pride following their successful struggle for independence but the Toroshima people in the Northeast presented a problem to the predominantly Belkan population. The Toroshima were generally friendly people who had no qualms about being annexed into a greater nation if it meant keeping their autonomy but a man who was fed-up with the Belkans, Tago Karishino, united the several Toroshima clans under a grand Toroshima Shogunate. The central Belkan government was more than concerned about the recent events and decided to take military action against the Shogunate. Just 2 years after the Belkan Rebellion, the Shogunate erupted in rebellion against the Belkans. Elite soldiers only known as the Sanobi who were near-suicidal and skilled in close combat caused the mostly inexperienced Belkans to rout in horror from the battlefield against the wishes of their commanders. Skilled saboteurs and masters of infiltration known as the Ranonin wreaked havoc on Belkan supply lines and command posts, further complicating operations against the Toroshima. However, the homefront in the Shogunate was different. Almost everybody hated Karishino for dragging them into war that they knew they would lose. Karishino was sacked in a political coup and a favorable agreement was reached that granted the Toroshima autonomy under the Belkan Empire's banner. They never rebelled again and instead became invaluable to the refinement of tactics learned in the war. Peace continued with Belka slowly overtaking the role which Arcas had before the collapse of its empire and became known as the largest power in Aredia. Several hundred years after the Rebellion, in the middle of the Great War and Yazidavan Intervention, one radical named Dietrich Vladko decided to take action against the repressive government and led an attack on the Reichskanler building which murdered the Chancellor, most Kanlers, and the Emperor, the country entered a leadership crisis. Several factions each vied for power and the military tried to stop it by declaring martial law and a state of emergency. Vladko immediately after founded the Belkan Socialist Republic, which began the Dinsmark Crisis with a brutal guerrilla war taking place in Dinsmark, the capital city, for months at a time coupled with war-weariness, looming financial collapse, and public disapproval of the government, caused Belka to pull out of the war but still aid the Conservatives in their war. Military leaders were against the decision as they thought their fight was going relatively well as they had managed to aid the Yazidavan Conservatives and Turkau greatly in their war. Historians are divided on the issue. In the early 1660s, an island nation-state north of Belka, Chaffhaven, repeatedly engaged in assaults and pogroms against ethnic Belkans living in Chaffhafen. The Belkan government then politely asked them to stop, but this plea was ignored. What happened next was seen by some as some of the worst war crimes in history. From Fahnricht Airfield in Northern Belka, 320 heavy bombers ruthlessly carpet bombed the Chaffhavener capital city, Hoffnung. 22,000 died with the entire city in ruins and fires on end for weeks. Almost everybody in Belka was appalled at the event but they couldn't speak out for fear of being arrested and killed by the Katastrophenschutz-Agentur. Following the peace accords, the 36th BFSK Grenadier Division was sent to make sure there were no more assaults. They were derogatorily known by the rest of the military as the Oskar Brigade, a division of the military's worst and criminals who were thrown into the military instead of execution. Millions of dollars worth of damage was incurred by the Oskar Brigade during their stay at Chaffhaven for six years. Belkan Diplomacy Plentiful natural resources and a strong defensive military deterred nations multiple times from invading the fledgling state of Belka and was a notorious global interventionist throughout its long history. The most infamous of these interventions was the Schlosshart Incident approximately 35 years before the Yazidavan Intervention. Troops under Lieutenant-General Wilhelm Schlosshart infiltrated some Northern provinces of Yazidavan and staged a rebellion against the government. Thousands of men then crossed the Belkan border with top-notch equipment and training and utterly smashed the scattered police forces in the region. The Belkan Government then declared support for the rebels, who were really just Belkan forces in disguise and openly threatened Yazidavan until they formally ceded the provinces to Belka. The provinces were all combined into one region and renamed North Ustio. This illegal annexation remains a point of contention between Belka and Yazidavan today. Belka both decades ago and in the present disrespects and hates nearly everyone it's next to, especially communist nations which it thinks is a 'threat to the federation', such as Forzona or the USSN. No formal diplomatic relations are held with these nations and any people coming into the federation from these nations will be shot on sight except for legally permitted Wall refugees. The only nations which it does not hate even remotely is Turkau and Yazidavan, and those were because they were both in a military alliance with Belka at one time or another. The government is intentionally trying to make relations with its neighbors (with the exception of the two allied nations) worse so they can then overpower them in a war and annex their territory. Natural Resources Belka is very plentiful in natural resources. However, its government rarely exports them, instead using them to fuel their expansive industry and war machine.